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AFP - The suffocating smog that blanketed swathes of China is now hitting parts of Japan, sparking warnings Monday of health fears for the young and the sick.

The environment ministry's website has been overloaded as worried users log on to try to find out what is coming their way.

"Access to our air-pollution monitoring system has been almost impossible since last week, and the telephone here has been constantly ringing because worried people keep asking us about the impact on health," said an environment ministry official.

Pictures of Beijing and other Chinese cities shrouded in thick, choking smog played out across television screens in Japan last week.

News programmes have broadcast maps showing a swirl of pollution gathering strength across China and then spreading out over the ocean towards Japan.

Pinks, reds and oranges that denote the worst pollution form a finger of smog that inches upwards to the southern main island of Kyushu.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing are already strained, over the sovereignty of a chain of islands in the East China Sea.

Officials were coy about lumping the blame all on their huge neighbour, but Yasushi Nakajima of the environment ministry said "we can't deny there is an impact from pollution in China".

Air pollution over the west of Japan has exceeded government limits over the last few days, with tiny particulate matter a problem, said Atsushi Shimizu of the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES).

Prevailing winds from the west bring airborne particles from the Asian mainland, he said.

Of specific concern is the concentration of a particle 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter, which has been as high as 50 microgrammes per cubic metre of air over recent days in northern Kyushu.

The government limit is 35 microgrammes.

Yellow sand from the deserts of Mongolia and China is a known source for these particles, as are exhausts from cars and smoke from factories.

"At this time of year they are definitely not yellow sands so they're toxic particles," Shimizu said, warning that "people with respiratory diseases should be careful."

Toshihiko Takemura, associate professor of Kyushu University who runs another air pollution monitoring site, said "the impact of air pollution originating from China on Japan was scientifically discovered more than a decade ago".

"Especially in Kyushu, the level of air pollution has been detectable in everyday lives since a few years ago," he said.

"People in eastern and northern Japan are now belatedly noticing the cross-border air pollution," he told AFP.

Takemura noted that pollution in Japan over the last few days has not been quite as bad as it was in February 2011, when "very hazy days continued for several days in western Japan."

He agreed with Shimizu that people with respiratory disease, as well as small children, should take extra care to avoid the problems.

Takemura's website forecast an "extremely large" amount of air pollutants would arrive in part of Kyushu Monday and Tuesday.

Shimizu said information-sharing with China on air pollution has been difficult but "there are many things Japan can do, for instance encouraging China to use pollutant-filtering equipment in factories."

After reading about that kind of smog, don't expect me to travel in China any time soon... as much as I'm not about to go in LA nor New Delhi any sooner for the same reasons. I still want to live longer.

(Reuters) - The Osaka Securities Exchange is investigating how Universal Entertainment Corp (6425.OS) accounted for millions of dollars paid in 2010 to advance the Japanese firm's casino project on Manila Bay, people with direct knowledge of the inquiry said.

The exchange's involvement is the first time the payments have drawn the attention of Japanese regulators. The FBI and Philippine authorities have been investigating $40 million in payments to a politically-connected consultant in Manila since last year.

The exchange, which oversees Universal's Jasdaq stock listing, has asked the company to explain how the payments were treated in Universal's financial statements for the fiscal year to March 2010, said people with knowledge of the request, who didn't want to be named as the investigation is ongoing.

Universal has said it carried out its business in the Philippines lawfully. The company, which also makes pachinko machines, announced in December it filed a defamation lawsuit against Reuters for reporting on its payments to Rodolfo Soriano, a former consultant to the gaming regulator in the Philippines. Universal declined to answer specific questions about its accounting.

In a statement last month, Universal said there was a "need to verify the suitability of accounting procedures", and it would revise its accounting if directed to do so by a panel of three outside experts it has commissioned to look into the payments.

One of the issues examined by the Osaka exchange involves a $10 million payment that was wired to Soriano from a Universal affiliate in Hong Kong and immediately circulated back to Universal by a former employee in May 2010, as the company was preparing to release its financial statements that June, said the people with knowledge of the investigation.

The exchange is focused on whether Universal improperly booked part of the payment as an asset on its balance sheet, inflating its profits, the people said.

A spokesman for the Japan Exchange Group, the OSE's holding company, said it did not comment on any investigation underway at a specific company. Soriano could not be reached for comment.

"NOTHING LOST, NOTHING GAINED"

Reuters was first to report in December that the $10 million was wired to Soriano's firm and immediately circulated back to Universal's accounts with the objective of closing the books on a loan that Universal determined could not be recovered.

Universal has sued three former employees over the $10 million transfer, claiming they made the payment without authorization.

A Universal representative told a Philippine congressional hearing on the payments on November 28 that the transaction had been neutral to Universal's accounts because a bank cheque for $10 million from HSBC, made out to Universal, arrived on the same day $10 million was transferred to a firm registered in Soriano's name. The representative did not say who, if any individual, signed the cheque.

"Nothing lost, nothing gained. But, as Universal Entertainment, we don't know what is this transaction," Masahiro Terada, the president of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, the company set up to operate the Manila casino, told the hearing. "It came back. Return, return."

But the exchange is questioning whether Universal sought to avoid taking a charge for the loan as well as other aspects of the accounting for the $30 million that remained with Soriano, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The $10 million payment was booked as the repayment of a loan to a firm called AZ Games International which had been dissolved for several months at the time of the transfer, according to people with knowledge of the transaction and records viewed by Reuters. Universal originally lent the money to AZ Games in 2008 to invest in Philippine casino clubs, said a person with direct knowledge of that deal.

One of the problems from an accounting perspective is that part of the $10 million was booked as a fixed asset related to its plot of land for the casino on Manila Bay, said people with knowledge of how the payments were accounted for.

That has raised questions over whether its profits were boosted by not fully accounting for what would have normally been a cost to dispose of a bad loan.

"It goes without saying, but if what's on the balance sheet does not represent a payment to a real counterparty - a real asset with value - then that's a problem," said Mitsuru Tagaya, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin, one of five outside accounting experts who reviewed Universal's accounting record at the request of Reuters.

POTENTIAL BRIBERY

The Philippines National Bureau of Investigation has been examining the payments to Soriano as a potential bribery case.

People interviewed by the FBI have said U.S. investigators have also indicated an interest in whether the payments violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FBI has been involved as there is evidence that funds paid to Soriano originated at a U.S. bank account of a Universal affiliate.

Universal founder and chairman Kazuo Okada has been in a legal dispute since early 2012 with U.S. casino magnate Steve Wynn. Okada had been an investor in Wynn Resorts (WYNN.O) before the board voted to redeem his investment at a discount after finding his company paid $110,000 to entertain gaming regulators from South Korea and the Philippines. Wynn said that made Okada an unsuitable partner.

Okada has said he was singled out after raising questions about Wynn's operations in Macau. The two sides remain locked in a legal fight that is playing out in courts in the United States, Japan and the Philippines.

Investigators from the Nevada Gaming Control Board have also been looking into Universal's activity in the Philippines, people with direct knowledge of that investigation have said. Universal has a gaming license in Nevada as a maker of slot machines.

__________________

When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

The Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said that a Chinese navy frigate had directed its fire-control radar at a Japanese destroyer in the incident on Jan. 30 near the islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in Chinese.

[T]he recent radar incidents are among the first to involve naval warships from both nations, which had until now been kept in the background to avoid a dangerous escalation. With tensions so high, military experts in Japan and the United States say their biggest fear is some accident or miscalculation resulting in an unintended military confrontation.

I don't see how this gets resolved. Japan won't concede the Senkakus; indeed as the article points out, it doesn't even acknowledge that a territorial dispute even exists. The Chinese aren't going to stand down from patrols anytime soon either. For those living in the region, what do you see as the likely trajectory of this conflict? What happens if they start shooting at each other?

I don't see how this gets resolved. Japan won't concede the Senkakus; indeed as the article points out, it doesn't even acknowledge that a territorial dispute even exists. The Chinese aren't going to stand down from patrols anytime soon either. For those living in the region, what do you see as the likely trajectory of this conflict? What happens if they start shooting at each other?

When you see two parties rattling their sabres at each other, and know they both did wrong despite one or both being someone you support, spite them by making money out of it.

__________________

When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

"British intelligence agencies are planning to install an unspecified number of spy
devices along Britain's telecommunications network so they can monitor Britons'
interactions with overseas services such as Facebook and Twitter, according to
lawmakers.

The devices are intended as a linchpin of a nationwide surveillance plan intended
to log nearly everything Britons do online — from Skype calls to instant messages
to visits to pornographic websites."

"British intelligence agencies are planning to install an unspecified number of spy
devices along Britain's telecommunications network so they can monitor Britons'
interactions with overseas services such as Facebook and Twitter, according to
lawmakers.

The devices are intended as a linchpin of a nationwide surveillance plan intended
to log nearly everything Britons do online — from Skype calls to instant messages
to visits to pornographic websites."

I don't see how this gets resolved. Japan won't concede the Senkakus; indeed as the article points out, it doesn't even acknowledge that a territorial dispute even exists. The Chinese aren't going to stand down from patrols anytime soon either. For those living in the region, what do you see as the likely trajectory of this conflict? What happens if they start shooting at each other?

Considering that China has already engaged itself on a course attempting to control all maritime corridors the same way Nasser wanted to nationalize the Suez Canal in 1956 with all the potentially bad consequences for world maritime trade, I'm afraid to say that the only response might come down to a direct confrontation by a coalition composed of Japan, the US, Vietnam, Phillipines, South Korea, and perhaps volunteering elements of NATO against China. From what I can understand, Russia are not interested to side with China in this.

If shit gets real, they would probably do it with a massive naval encounter in which the best trained side in naval warfare should prevail. However, if China are cornered in a position in which they go as low as to launch air raids against Japanese cities, then anything could happen.

By the way, an US Navy officer spoke out about China's intentions and things look bad in prospect.

Considering that China has already engaged itself on a course attempting to control all maritime corridors the same way Nasser wanted to nationalize the Suez Canal in 1956 with all the potentially bad consequences for world maritime trade, I'm afraid to say that the only response might come down to a direct confrontation by a coalition composed of Japan, the US, Vietnam, Phillipines, South Korea, and perhaps volunteering elements of NATO against China. From what I can understand, Russia are not interested to side with China in this.

If shit gets real, they would probably do it with a massive naval encounter in which the best trained side in naval warfare should prevail. However, if China are cornered in a position in which they go as low as to launch air raids against Japanese cities, then anything could happen.

By the way, an US Navy officer spoke out about China's intentions and things look bad in prospect.

We, the Singaporeans of SEA, hereby pledge to sell out the entire coalition's intelligence and technology in exchange for trade rights when this whole thing blows over. *sarcastic*

__________________

When three puppygirls named after pastries are on top of each other, it is called Eclair a'la menthe et Biscotti aux fraises avec beaucoup de Ricotta sur le dessus.
Most of all, you have to be disciplined and you have to save, even if you hate our current financial system. Because if you don't save, then you're guaranteed to end up with nothing.

(Reuters) - China unveiled sweeping tax reforms on Tuesday to make wealthy state-owned firms, property speculators and the rich pay more to narrow a yawning gap between an urban elite and hundreds of millions of rural poor.

[Personal Commentary: Pardon me for being a bit pessimistic, but I'm curious how much equalization it will actually do unless there is a simultaneously attempt to crack down on white-collar crime/corruption. Not to kind anyone because I know India and other developing nations are actually worse, but although I post this, it almost feels like non-news.. ]